Effect of System Implementation on Hospital Administration
Welcome to my Online Document Assignment Wiki This wiki page was created by Brad de Bekker as a response to a college assignment. I am studying | Health Informatics Management at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario and I am not a doctor. This is a college report which has been summarized and converted into an online document. It does not replace any medical advice or expertise and is not kept up to date with current medical practices. Report Summary The report covers changes to the | administrative side of health care that occur as a result of the introduction or integration of large scale | computer systems that are devoted to providing patient | data storage or assist in the logistics of providing quality care to all citizens. It was written using a number of articles which were obtained from different sources such as the internet, research papers, and case studies. All funds in the report are | U.S. dollars. Introduction | Humans are curious animals. As a species, we thrive on providing the means to allow more humans thrive. Not only is it in our nature to be social and caring individuals, but we have consistently shown throughout history that we always implement the use of tools to make tasks easier. That being said, it was only inevitable until Earth’s most festering creatures amalgamated the two in order to serve one supreme purpose. “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” - | Albert Einstein Today, if one was to complete a visit to the doctor’s office without encountering some form of | medical technology, there would be an outcry. As a result of large scale systems implementation projects between different medical environments, the administrative aspects of the clinical setting—such as the duties of employees, cost to the provider, and accountability of employees—are going through drastic changes. Electronic Medical Records ''What are they? *The | electronic medical record] (EMR) is a computerized | health information system where providers can record detailed encounter information. *The | electronic health record (EHR) is a similar computer system but it composes information from many geographically dispersed sources. *For the purpose of simplicity, this paper uses EMR to refer to both. ''Why are they used? 'Changes in Productivity' *As a result of the introduction of EMRs, patient-centeredness, shared decision making and teaming become much more important parts of an employees workload. *Nothing is simpler than a pen and paper for any person who needs to record information. *In some cases, the computerized system actually enhanced the patient-physician interaction by creating a breakpoint in conversation while the | physician entered data on the computer, allowing the | patient time to provide higher quality darta during the encounter. 'Overhead Cost Savings' *In | Canada alone, hospital administration costs were $3.1 billion in 1999 which is equivalent to 12.9 percent of hospital spending or $103 per capita. *Clerical staff reductions as a result of the elimination of | filing have resulted in savings of up to $13,000 per physician in some settings. *''Greenhouse Internists Example'' **Prior to implementation, the clinic had an annual technology budget of $10,000. **This increased to $40,000 afterwards because of the annual support payments which have to be made to the | hardware and | software vendors and to the local computer vendor. **Regardless of additional technological costs, there have been savings of $45,000 in annual | transcription fees and this has also resulted in the elimination of one staff member with an annual salary of $20,000 'Clinician Accountability' *EMRs assist in reducing the number of excessive tests or duplicate tests that physicians can order. *| Malpractice is the improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, | dentist, | nurse, | pharmacist, or other health care professional. The belief surrounding EMRs is that the use of a computerized system will result in more detailed data entry. This in turn will result in the reduction of medication errors or the failure to document some sort of informed consent. *Many clinicians feel as though EMRs will not fix the failure of a physician to | diagnose. Recommendations Electronic medical records are already being rapidly developed and accepted around the world and for a variety of different purposes in different | types of clinical settings. As we use more of this technology, it is absolutely crucial that employees be prepared for any and all changes that may happen as a result of using a new system with new methods. Specifically, it is important for hospital or clinic administration to provide to appropriate training so that any system misunderstandings can be minimized. Conclusion The future use of the EMR is going to alter the ways in which employees in medical organizations and institutions conduct their day to day activities as well as reduce the cost in auxiliary resources such as paper and storage space while forcing these same employees to be more concerned over the quality of | health care they are providing for their patient. The methods which the EMR encourages are comforting for patients who want a more in depth and devoted medical experience. The use of the EMR is also a sign that hospital administration is going to have to show more concern for their patients regardless of if they are requiring care or not. References *Aladwani, A. M. (2001). Change management strategies for successful ERP implementation. Business Process Management Journal, 7(3), 266-275. *Baron, MD, R. J., Fabens, MD, E. L., Schiffman, MD, M., & Wolf, MD, E. (2005, August 2). Electronic Health Records: Just around the Corner? Or over the Cliff? Annals of Internal Medicine, 143(3), 222-226. *Clayton, P. D., Narus, S. P., Bowes III, W. A., Madsen, T. S., Wilcox, A. B., Orsmond, G., et al. (2005). Physician use of electronic medical records: Issues and successes with direct data entry and physician productivity. AMIA Symposium Proceedings, 141-145. *Farlex, I. (2011). Medical Malpractice. Retrieved October 30, 2011, from The Free Dictionary by Farlex: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Medical+Malpractice *Lannon, J. M., & Klepp, D. (2006). Technical Communication (4 ed.). Toronto: Pearson Longman. *Ludwick, D. A., & Doucette, J. (2009). Adopting Electronic Medical Records in Primary Care: Lessons Learned from Health Information Systems Implentation Experience in Seven Countries. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 78, 22-31. *Network, B. R. (2011). Humanity Quotes. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from Brainy Quote: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/humanity.html Category:Browse